crystal drop

Scientists tell us that water is diamagnetic… Could it be that its magnetic properties could be harnessed by the powers of a fortune-teller? The small drops of water, round and transparent, could they not play the role of crystal balls?

“The magnetism with which the surface of the mirror or the ball is charged is brought there by the eyes of the seer and the universal ether, the brain behaving as if it were in communication with the universe, the ball serving as an intermediary. ".
John Melville, "Crystal Gazing and the Wonders of Clairvoyance", 1920.

Staged in such a way as to draw attention to their luminous presence, each drop is a call to gaze into it. Very small, but capable of containing the whole world, like the monads of Leibniz, each little drop will offer, to those who want to pay attention to it, images of our past or our future. Like crystal balls… A whole story, that of our world, of the beginning of life, or the future, as we can glimpse it. Because the drops enter into communication with the universe, that's for sure. They are the intermediary. Three drops, therefore, three entrances into clairvoyance.
The drops are very small... but you can clearly see the images that come alive inside!!!!

The flow of time, from the earliest past to the destiny of mankind, is continuous and never ceases to pass. So it is with crystal drops: a slow but uninterrupted, inexorable flow. The drops of water descend and take place on the pedestal, to be read. Then are repelled by others, and so on. An endless cycle: that of the elements, of water on our planet, and that of life.

A sort of high-powered techno-bohemian bezel will allow those who so wish to be able to see the image contained in the drop half a centimeter in diameter more easily.

The installation is presented in a dark place, to facilitate contemplation. The only lights will be those of the drops, but also of the candles placed in the room.

Three different small animations are presented in each of the drops. The past, the present and the future. The drops of water will follow an ever-renewed flow. Drops of water are generated regularly, then descend along a thin pipe.

They end up reaching the pedestal. A three-step cycle will then be visible: the first drop will swell the drop in place, by coalescence. The second also, carrying the drop in place in a very unstable state: at the limit of balance on its pedestal. The third drop will swell the drop up so much that the boundary of the balance will be broken. The drop, too big, will release excess water, which will flow along the pedestal, to the ground. Will remain a simple, flatter drop. And the cycle will continue like this without end. A slow, but very regular cycle, which will constantly modify the shape of the drop, and over time will modulate the vision of the animated images projected in the drops.
Magic and technology perhaps come together here, in a tiny drop of water. Tiny, but capable of containing the entire universe. A microcosm...